Priceless Heart
by Saraluna
Summary: Darla is the daughter, the life work of inventor Hideki Motosuwa, and his persecon wife, Chii, but can she deal with the emotional issues of a computer that can feel? Impersonating a human, she tries to make sense of her purpose for living. CHP 6 up!R
1. Real

Priceless

AN: This is my first Chobits fic. Please review.

She felt herself standing on the edge of a precipice. An edge of cold, hard metal was under her toes. She slowly, cautiously opened her eyes. There was a mechanical whirr from somewhere in the back of her head as her eyes adjusted to the obsidian darkness. Something almost…painful?

_What are these words?_ She thought, as they streamed effortlessly through her head. _What is pain?_

She looked down, another lance of sharp, grating pain resounding through her head. Empty looking eyes focused, and she saw ahead of her a black abyss that stretched for miles.

_Who am I? Where am I?_ She was on the edge of panic now, yet strangely calm. Something, like a push from behind, jolted her, flowing through her being. A figure emerged from the darkness, pale and ethereal. She peered at the contrast of the pale silhouette as it drew closer. It was a girl; she was beautiful, in every possible way, like a porcelain doll. Her eyes like glass, her skin polished marble, her hair in creamy wavelets, cascading down her back, framing a face delicate and beautiful. But yet, there was something not quite right about her. She smiled the perfect smile of an airline attendant. Superficially pretty.

She walked up to her, and presented a hand, outstretched, palm facing her. Still teetering on the metal edge, she reached out. To the gentlest of grazing touches, the girls hands was perfect, smooth and soft, with the delicate long fingers of a piano player. But her hands where cold as the metal beneath her feet. The Perfect girl cocked her head to one side, with another small and perfect smile. Then she noticed her ears. They where llama-like, sloping downwards, white on the outside, sugar pink within. They didn't fit her face, somehow. The girl was suddenly overcome with revulsion. She stumbled away from the perfect thing, and it just smiled at her in a rather puzzled manner.

The girl, shaken, realized something then.

Her heart wasn't beating.

Her skin was cold.

And when she reached her fingers up, she felt hard, chrome llama ears.

Hideki Motosuwa's hands trembled. After 30 years of work, he was almost done with his masterpiece. In his hands, he held a small, metallic device. The silvery, translucent material that covered the thing seemed almost like liquid. Tiny gears and intricate metal systems made up the inside. They would shift every few moments, making the oval thing pulsate like a living thing.

The development of persecoms, simulated humanoid figurines with computer abilities, and increasingly humanlike attributes, had been at a virtual standstill over the past few years. While the array of things that persecoms where capable of doing, and their internet and hookup capabilities continued to become better and better, they had not changed in the human perspective hardly at all. A law that had been passed years ago had forbid the development of persecoms with humanoid ears, and all of these within circulation had been destroyed. Companies where also banned from trying to give the 'coms "feelings" or making them more human. With these laws in effect, it was all too easy to distinguish, as fearful companies made their computers less human, with less personality than before. There where even fewer persecoms marriages than before, and Hideki was scorned for his. The government was not ready to deal with the moral issues of robots.

But here Hideki was, ready to disobey every one of those laws. He looked down at the prone figure of a girl in front of him. She looked to be about 20, young and pretty. Shoulder length black hair shined glossily at her shoulders. Hideki had taken every pain to make her as human as possible. Regular human ears stuck out from beneath her ebony locks. Hideki glanced over at his Wife, Chii. She smiled warmly at him.

"She is beautiful Hideki. Chii is happy to have a daughter, even if she cannot be with Chii." Something akin to sadness shone in the amber depths of his persecoms wife's eyes. While he was older than he had been, she still maintained the beauty of youth, but her circuits where deteriorating, and she wasn't as fast or powerful as the newer coms on the market today. He walked over to her and gently kissed her on the top of her head. He then turned back to the beautiful 'com in front of him, then down at the device in his hands. He reflected on what he was about to do.

He was about to give life to a persecoms that resembled a human in every way, illegally. He was about to give her a heart, the ability to feel….a soul? His hands trembled as he reached for the exposed skin in her chest, where a neat incision marred her perfectly pale skin. He pushed the flap of skin up to reveal metal circuits, the inner workings of one of the most elaborately created and unique persecom on earth. Tiny veins laced their way through her insides even, filled with fake blood. If she was cut, she would bleed, just like a human. He bent and connected the metal heart up to the circuits and veins that cut off in her chest. He closed the flap of skin, and then reached a finger into her inner ears, flicking a brilliantly concealed switch the size of a pinhead.

"Wake up, Darla."

Author's notes: sorry this chapter was so short, but I really want to get the story up and get reactions on it. If you read, please have the kindness to share your thoughts about my story with me. Please review.


	2. Darla

Priceless Heart

_Am I that inhuman? _

_That when I cry my misery is not expressed by tears?_

_That I don't lose this "beauty" over the years?_

_That I too, can feel what you take for granted?_

_If I rip myself to pieces over you_

_And I do not bleed_

_Will you truly, laugh at me?_

_I can see the sun setting_

_I can see darkness letting_

_Me__ fall faster………._

_Sell this love of mine as a toy._

_But you will never own it._

_Priceless Heart.___

Her skin warmed. It was the warmth of a light bulb. Hideki stepped back as she started, for the first time since he had seen Chii looking at baby pictures in a magazine.

_"Hideki, what are these?"_

_"Babies, Chii. All humans look like that when they are very young."_

_"Oh. Chii likes them. They look so happy."_

The persecom in question was holding his arm gently. Her amber eyes reflected the figure in front of them, on the white table, like twin pools. They where innocent on the outside, but with unfathomable depths. Beautiful, But you could drown in them. Hideki thought for a moment. Though Darla was very different looking from Chii, she had her "mother's" Amber eyes. Slowly they opened. Darla was clad in only a long white gown that had used to be Chii's. Thin and simple, it fit her, with striking comparison to her creamy skin and jet black hair. She sat up, her eyes empty for a moment. Hideki watched her silently.

"Just a dream….."

Her voice was musical, beautiful to hear, but tinged with authority that didn't seem to fit the forlorn persecom. She reached up slowly, running hesitant fingers over her ears, the skin on her arms, her hands stopping to rest over her heart. She slowly looked up at Hideki and the familiar….woman? No….she had strange ears…..Where had she seen them before? She scrambled blindly away falling off the white table with a crash.

Broken out of his reverie, Hideki dove to catch her, managing to grab her arm before she hit the floor.

"Darla!" She looked back at him blankly, and her eyes calmed. Hideki glanced back at Chii. She gave a small smile, cute and innocent as ever, but Hideki could tell that if she where human, her eyes would glisten with tears

"Chii has some sewing to do on a new outfit….She will see Hideki and Darla later?" Without waiting for a reply, she padded silently upstairs. She and Hideki had spent the first few years of her marriage doing research on persecoms. Hideki had sold several of his models, before becoming sick of the commercialized, sellout attitude of his coworkers, and many of the people involved in persecom sales. But the money he had made from the sale of a few of his revolutionary models had bought them a lovely little house away from the over polluted, raucous city. The silence had been completely new to Chii, who had never experienced the open country before, but Hideki seemed more relaxed than he used to be. Chii loved the calm life that they had, but she could see Hideki's faraway look at times. He had worked hard to get his degree in computer development, and though Chii was his first love, Darla, in a way, was his second. At times, he seemed almost obsessed with her completion.

Chii sighed wistfully, her honey colored eyes, resting on the unfinished costume on her bed. Before leaving the city, she had learned to sew and do needlework from Ms. Hibiya. She now designed her own clothing. It was a hobby of course, another thing about her that amazed Hideki, how she truly enjoyed doing it. The costume on their bed now was a pale pink, laced with pearls. Chii was making it for the upcoming cherry blossom festival being held in their small town. She planned to complete it with lace, and wear some of the flowers with the carnation colored dress on the day of the festival.

Hideki looked at Darla skeptically, He had made sure to install her with revolutionary software that he had designed himself. It would give her access to information on appropriate mannerisms of human beings, but would not require her to follow those programs. She knew how to masquerade as human, but it was her choice how she acted. He wondered what had triggered her previous outburst. There had been something like fear in her eyes, but what was there to fear for a newborn persecom? Had he made some mistake in the years her had spent creating her, working at a slow, agonizing pace over every painstaking detail?

He looked her over. She seemed fine now, sitting cross-legged on the floor, studying him curiously. She really did look like what a child of his a Chii's would resemble. Her Ebony hair was but a shade darker than his own, but pale highlights streaked through like bolts of lightning. Her eyes looked exactly like Chii's, and she was slightly taller than her mother. Her facial makeup scared him a little, because it looked so similar to his wife's yet so separate and foreign. He reached out a hand to her.

"Come, Darla. Let me explain everything."

Minoru Kokubunji, now a man, sat at his computer desk, his pale face glowing eerily in the artificial light of the monitor in front of him. His non-humanoid surfing computer was his own design, and it allowed him to hack into virtually any database of account in the rapidly growing cyber world. He paused his rapid typing for a moment to stare at a forsaken corner of his desk. While the rest of his workspace was cluttered with documents, stray computer parts, and tools, one corner was dusty and unused. Nothing lay in it save a single face down picture frame. He reached out trembling fingers, than drew them back before touching the photo as if its mere aura had burned him.

Shaking his head, he turned away, back to the comforting glow emanating from the screen. But the lines of computer HMTL no longer held his interest. He had long since finished putting up a fake identity for his old friend. What it was for, he didn't know, how a human could just appear out of thin air, but he owed him one. Soft arms wrapped around him. He turned, unsurprised to see his wife, Katina's face inches from his own.

"Watcha Doin?" She asked, through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Nothing."

"Of course I believe you."

"Thanks."

She cuffed him playfully in one arm. "The guest room is almost ready. When is your friend coming?"

"Soon, hopefully. I'll be right up."

"Alright." She sauntered away, pausing to lob a piece of popcorn at his head before climbing the nearest stairwell in the large mansion that served as their home. Minoru frowned. Something wasn't quite right about the person he was creating a fake identity for. Had Hideki adopted a child without telling anyone? It made no sense. Curious, he pulled up the window contained her online ID. Something nagged at him.

"Who is this Darla?" He muttered in frustration. His features slowly smoothed to calmness.

"We shall see."

AN: I really need more reviews if I'm going to continue this story, so please, leave reviews. I really plan on sticking with this one, because I have a basic plotline already for it. REVIEW.


	3. Meeting

Authors Notes: please review…..reviews are what keeps me writing….I have so much to do I often don't have the time to write chapters, but when I get reviews, I sometimes stop just to write the next chapter for whoever reviewed….

Yes I will be including an original poem at the beginning of most of my chapters…….

_I can see you standing there, distorted_

_A kaleidoscope of pain_

_I can see you lying there, a dying flame_

_I can see the sky changing_

_From dusk to dawn and I watch you_

_As you put your facade on_

_Born from light and creates shadow_

_Crawling desperation_

_I offer commendation_

_I can see you, invisible_

_Please_

_Feel?___

Priceless Heart- chapter 3

The soft sounds of silverware clanking filled the otherwise silent kitchen. Chii, over her years with Hideki, had been taught to cook through online software, and was now practically a gourmet chef. Useful, considering Hideki couldn't cook for his life, but Chii being a persecom could not eat. Darla was a different story. Hideki had made sure that she was able to taste her food. Food she ate was immediately transferred to a small metal hollow in place of her stomach, where it was incinerated. Left over smoke and chemicals from this burning where used for fuel, much like a human.

It had been a week since Darla had been awakened. She had since gotten used to the uneasy feeling she got every time she saw Chii. She now sat at the table, one hand primly on her lap, the other lifting small mouthfuls of food to her lips. She was dressed in faded blue jeans and a black tank top, her lips painted a striking but not overbearing scarlet. Her face was impassive, betraying none of the nervous feelings that swirled within her. Her father had told her that she was a computer, just like Chii, but she was just as good as any human, and she should not let others know that she was a persecom. _Why?_ She wondered _Is it that horrible?_ He had been very grave impressing the importance of this on her, almost panicky.

She paused to take another sip of orange juice. And what of these strange things before her "birth"? She remembered snatches of something, something that scared her and made her wish she could hide, but she could not pull the nagging image from her memory. Like a dream that you can feel but just can't quite remember, it danced just on the edge of her mind, on the tip of her tongue, taunting her, but never getting close enough to be caught. A small frown briefly graced her perfect features, before smoothing away as though it was never there. Though she loved Hideki in her own way, she wasn't quite sure she could trust him, so she hid her feelings from the always-questioning man in front of her, who was shoveling food into his mouth faster than he could chew and swallow it.

Because it seemed to please them, she called Chii and Hideki "mother" and "father". She had now adopted more human mannerisms as well. Hideki had taken her shopping, and seemed relieved afterwards. When she asked him why, he had just shrugged her away. She had been given an ID with her picture on it. It told her that she was 22, and held several other useless facts about her, some of them false. Like her weight….She almost blushed. She had used the scale in the upstairs bathroom one night, curious. She had read in a book in her fathers study what her average weight should be, but she metal inside her made her much heavier than normal, one of the few grievous flaws in her almost-perfect personification of humanity.

"Papa, where did you say we where going today?" she asked mildly.

"My good friend Minoru has agreed to house us for a few weeks while our house is being redone." He replied, smiling at Chii. "We will be spending the Cherry blossom festival with him."

"Is he married?"

"Oh, yes. He has two children as well, about your….erm, age." He said the last few words with a nervous cough. " I'll introduce you when we get there."

"Yes. I would like to meet some more people, Papa." She wiped her mouth with a delicate brush of her napkin.

"Yes….." he said distractedly. He excused himself from the table and walked off as though in a daze. Darla walked away as well, making her way up to her room. Her room was as bare as the day she had taken it as her own. One simple white futon that she "slept" on was in one corner, along with a small slab of wood that served as a bureau. Hideki had promised her better furnishings when they returned from Minoru's mansion. Her suitcase, packed neatly, stood solitarily bye the door. She walked to the middle of the room and sat down in lotus pose, closing her eyes tiredly.

The doorbell rang. There where a few moments of silence in the Kokubunji household, before they all rushed for the door. Minoru, wearing a customary suit, was first to reach the door with a few controlled, powerful strides. Katina, rebellious as she was, had refused to change into any thing more elegant than what she normally wore, baggy jeans and a black tank today. Minoru's children stood silently to the side.

17 year old Hotaru Kokubunji was a wraithlike shadow. Her eyes held untold volumes of fear, resentment, and pain. Though she wasn't always crying, her face always appeared tear streaked. Her skin was pale and sickly looking from never being outside. Her hair was ebony black, and ran down to her lower back like a stream of dark water. Her eyes where a dark, almost black. She wore a long black gown that pooled around her feet at the floor. The sleeves where long as well, and covered her hands, but the bodice and waist kept the dress from looking overlarge on her.

Her older brother, Teku, was 19. His face betrayed no emotion, but there was something eerie about his blank stare. His hair was also black, and cropped short above his shoulders. He wore a pair of baggy, faded blue jeans, and a grey shirt, and stood by Hotaru in an almost protective manner. There was obvious tension in the room. Minoru avoided meeting his sons' eyes.

The Door opened.

Silence.

AN: sorry this chapter was so short…..stabs her high school damn tests…..


	4. Shudder

AN: next chapter please review more…..has review withdrawal, dies X.X no poem this time…..readers cheer

Note: I may be doing some first person POV in here for Darla. Only for her though.

_The 15 year old girl sat happily on the sofa, sketching a lark that chirruped on the balcony. The air was brisk, but it seemed not to bother her. Her drawing was good, shaded well, with fine attention to detail, and she seemed content. She turned to her persecom, a quiet-eyed boy 'com with brown hair and soft hazel eyes. He appeared to smile at her. He was an older model, like Yuzuki, but she still loved him. Her face wrinkled in consternation as she thought about a comment her father had made at the dinner table a few nights ago. How she was getting old enough to have one of the new faster 'coms._

_"But I don't want a new one. I want to keep Aki……" She complained quietly under her breath. "That old hypocrite. Yuzuki is older, but if I said that, he would just have some other argument to fling at me because I'm not good at debating." She turned her face back to the bird, but with a final sweet note, it lit from the branch and rose gracefully into the sky, becoming nothing but a dark speck on the brightening horizon._

_"Wa……Crap!" She almost crumpled the sketch on the spot, but after heaving an exasperated sigh, she closed her drawing pad and turned back to her Persecom. "Aki, can you get me a drink of water please?"_

_"Of course Milady." He gave a comical smile and a mock bow, and the girl giggled. Aki was so real sometimes……and such a tease. Yesterday he had accidentally cut the skin on his hand with one of the kitchen knives, while trying to juggle them for her. He walked over to the pitcher on her desk and poured some of the water into a cup, but some accidentally spilled on his arm. He walked over to her, holding out the glass, the same mocking smile on his boyish face. The girl laughed._

_"Oh Aki……." Her smile faded as she realized the blank look in his eyes. Peculiar sparks rose from the tear in his hand. "Aki?" A hint of panicky fear crept into her voice when the persecom didn't answer, only continued walking slowly towards her, hand outstretched. The Cup of water fell to the floor, and the sparks leapt higher. His pace quickened._

_"Teku……TEKU?!" She was scared now. She yelled for her brother, forgetting that he was out of town, and she was home alone. Stumbling out of her chair, she ran into the edge of the balcony behind her. "ouch…." She winced. "Aki? Aki, it's me, remember? Hotaru……" She pleaded, tears coming to her eyes. She was cornered and she knew it. There was no way she could defend herself against a malfunctioning persecom. They where built to protect humans, and therefore stronger than any human could ever be. Aki appeared not to hear her, finally meeting her face to face, a hungry look in his eyes. His hands clamped around her wrists like steel manacles. Chains of fear. He ripped angrily at her shirt, his perfectly groomed fingernails tearing 4 bloody streaks down her back._

_A shrill scream broke the morning silence. A crowd of sleeping larks exploded into the dawning morning, startled by the sound._

Hotaru sat bolt upright in bed, her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her parched and sore throat refused to produce sound under this sort of abuse. Her hair was plastered to her head, her night gown soaked with sweat. She continued trying to scream until her terror receded and she sat, her chest heaving as she gasped for breath. The pain in her throat worsened, and through the haze of fear that still gripped her, she dimly realized she needed something to drink. Quietly untangling herself from the twisted and knotted bed sheets, and silently crept downstairs. She was slowly calming, but she couldn't completely remember her dream. She had a good idea what her nightmare had been about though. It had seemed so real, because it had been real. She brought her fingers up to her face, something wet other than sweat still ran down her cheeks. Tears.

She reached the kitchen, pondering what had triggered her to dream about him again. She hadn't had another of her horrible nightmares for almost a year now. Sighing, she opened the refrigerator for some water, and then thought better of it, going towards her parent's liquor cabinet.  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sat at one of the many kitchen tables in the huge mansion. I had gotten up to find the laundry room for my shirt, and gotten quite lost in the process. The room I was in now seemed to be decorated Victorian style, with ornate drapes on some of the small, quant windows on each of the four walls. A mini fridge sat in one corner, with a microwave on the nearest counter, but other than that, the room seemed of an earlier time. It also was dusty from disuse, I reflected, drawing my finger across the wooden table in the center, only to have it come away covered with dust. The sink in the corner still worked, and after locating a kettle, I had made myself a cup of black tea. The real-feeling warmth of the cup in front of me was calming, and I cupped my hands around the chipped mug, staring into the dark depths of the slowly cooling liquid. Steam rose from the cup, making tiny droplets of condensation appear on my skin.

A clanking sound was heard from the direction of the cabinets across from the small room, startling me out of my reverie. A thin silhouette stood on tiptoe at the counter, reaching up for a dark bottle. It was Minoru's daughter, I realized, the dark and gloomy girl called Hotaru. The way she had stared right through me when we had entered the house today had been disconcerting to say the least, but her sad aura had puzzled me. She seemed almost to know my true nature with her cold greeting. When I had asked Papa today why she was so sad, he had only said something about her being hurt by a persecom, which had also confused me.

In my haste to sit and reflect, I had neglected to turn on the light to the kitchen, so Hotaru still didn't know I was there, without thinking, I spoke.

"Hotaru?" With a muffled scream, she dropped the crystalline glass she was holding and spun, brandishing a bottle if wine. The glass shattered in the tiled floor, and tiny pieces of glass flew, a myriad of glittering sharpness. Her face softened a bit when she saw it was only me, but her breathing had sped up again

"Darla. You scared me." She replied in a flat voice before bending down to clean up. I quickly rose to help her, unearthing a cobweb-laden broom from one of the dirty corners if the room. We cleaned in almost companionable silence until the mess was gone. She then went to get the discarded wine bottle, pouring some of the dark liquid into a new glass.

Hotaru listened to the running-water sound of the wine trickling into the flutelike glass on the table. She stared levelly across at the new girl, Darla, who cupped a mug of now cold tea between her hands. Her father, a long time friend of Minoru's had introduced her as his and Chii's adopted daughter, whom he had hidden from the general public for a while to protect her from the criticisms of an anti-computer relationship society. She had thought there was something strange about Darla from the moment she laid eyes on her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what. It was something about the defiance and utter lack of fear in her eyes as she appraised Hotaru and her family, something so uncharacteristic of a human who had grown up in isolation. She lowered herself heavily into one of the dusty wooden chairs across from Darla, taking a sip from her glass, and feeling the liquid burn through her, as though searing her soul. She wondered if Darla was the reason for the reappearance of her recurring nightmare. She decided to break the uncomfortable silence with a question that had been nagging her all day.

"So what's it like?" Hotaru's powerful stare seemed to see right through her, and a wave of guilt rolled over Darla.

"er…..what?" She stuttered uncomfortably.

"Having that……that computer as a mother…..and having to grow up without knowing anyone. It must be pretty strange coming here for you."

"Oh….yeah. Strange." Was it just Hotaru's imagination that the girl seemed overly uncomfortable with the question? Heck, with the kind of society her father must have told her she was being born into, shouldn't she be relieved that they weren't treating her any different? Then again, how would she know….Hotaru felt a wave of pity for the forlorn girl in front of her.

"You couldn't sleep either?" She said, changing the subject. Darla shook her head wordlessly. They lapsed once again into a golden quiet. Orange tinges where beginning to touch the edges of the dim horizon, as another day dawned. Hotaru hadn't realized how late it had been when she had come downstairs, and she sighed inwardly. She was never going to get any sleep now. She could barely sleep normally, insomnia being one of her many psychological issues. After having the dream many times, she had initially been afraid of sleep, and now, it was almost impossible for her fragile mind to allow her to stop thinking and rest. Even when she did manage a light nap, her sleep was fitful, and easily disturbed. She had eventually gotten a room on the other side of the house, away from everyone but her brother, because any disturbance could wake her.

Darla appraised Hotaru inconspicuously. Her face seemed older somehow, and there were evidence of dark smudges under her eyes. She must not sleep often, Darla reasoned. She decided to tap into some of the information her father had given her.

"So, what are you wearing to the cherry blossom festival? It's coming up in a few days." She said, startling Hotaru out of her reverie.

"Mama is helping me make a dress. I don't know, I'm not much for sewing. Maybe I'll just buy one instead." She replied thoughtfully.

"Chii sews very well. She taught me. She is also making her own dress. We could go shopping, though, if you want." She looked at the younger girl expectantly. To her surprise, Hotaru smiled.

"Maybe if I can convince Mama……" She hid her smile behind one hand. Darla looked outside again, where a rapidly brightening sky was begging to turn a vivid blue. Maybe staying at Minoru's would be better than she thought. But she still felt uncomfortable here for some reason…..She shook it off.

_What is it with these strange feelings I've been having? First Chii, and now this family. This has GOT to stop……_

AN: I've decided to stop writing this story if I don't get a few more reviews……please review.


	5. Facade

Author's Notes: aaand…..the long-awaited next chapter! (I hope XD)Yes, this will be a long story, give it time, high school sucks . # sign signals a plot change, or me being annoying and adding spaces to make my chapter look bigger.

**"You know not what you do….."**

Priceless Heart chapter 5

_The wind howled outside, where a chill and desolate night was more comfortable than the chaos that swirled inside. A man sat, with a bored expression on his face, as a younger man paced in front of him, shouting. Anger was etched on the pacing man's face, righteous fury written as obviously as words on a page._

_"You don't care, do you father? Is that is? Your own child means nothing more to you than an object for you to flaunt, is that it? Or perhaps she means even less to you than an object! Perhaps you love your precious computers more than her!" The older man opened his mouth to reply to this accusation, but the young man would hear nothing of what he believed were just excuses his father made, or even believed himself. "That…that THING! She means more to you, does she? Well?! Answer me, father…" He spat this last word out contemptuously, as though it left a horrible aftertaste on his tongue, motioning to a quiet, almost unnoticed persecom by the door. Her long blue hair hung down her back, wavy and perfect, not a strand out of place._

_She seemed uncomfortable, from the all too human look on her pretty face, but that was just programming, telling her to seem this way because of her master's discomfort, wasn't it? _

_"You know the reason that my persecom means so much to me…" The older man replied, about to say more, but his son would hear nothing but his own rage._

_"Heartless Bastard!" In one fluid and calculated motion, he crossed the room in three long strides, seizing the persecom by the door roughly by one arm. Anger and pain twisted his handsome face into a mask of vengeful judgment. "I'm doing this in your best interest father!" He swung his arm around, lost in his own rage, an anger many would say was justified._

_"NO!" For the first time in the conversation, real emotion showed on the older man's face. He stood up quickly knowing over a table in the process. The loud crashing sound seemed to break through the younger man's rage, and his arm stopped for a moment, but as he stared down at the persecom in front of him, who cowered like a real woman, resolve solidified on his stony face, and he hit her with his closed fist, all his strength poured into the savage blow. The girl crumpled onto the floor, her face disfigured in an inhuman way, the metal punched in, pieces of it tearing apart the complex circuitry in her head. The man, fueled and emboldened by this act of defiance, continued to beat at her until his Father pulled him roughly away._

_The older man's face was twisted with grief, as he knelt beside the sparking persecom. Her one good eye, less battered than the other hardly distinguishable orb, opened slowly, rotating lazily in its socket, coming to rest on the man kneeling over her. Tears streamed down his stricken face. He cradled her in his arms, and for one so knowledgeable on persecoms, he was heedless as to the dangerous sparks that leapt statically off of her thin frame. She attempted to form a smile from the components left of her broken face._

_"Minoru…brother." She smiled, and her head lolled to the side, a faint pulsing light on her neck dimming to darkness._

_"No!" The man holding her yelled out in denial, before crumpling over the piece of metal in front of him that he held so dear. The young man stared with stony eyes that held mixed feeling's of regret and justification as his father stared off into space, muttering the same thing over and over._

_"Not again…please god, not again……Yuzuki!"_

I sat cross-legged on a cushion with the three other women. There was obvious tension in the room because of my Mother. Hotaru and Katina had invited me to come and see the outfit her mother was working on for the festival, and discuss a choice of attire for me, and Chii had asked us what we were doing. Her attempts to be courteous and kind to the other women where almost pitiful in her naive efforts to win their approval, and there was an obvious lack of happiness in her when they seemed to rebuttal every attempt she made. When she had stumbled upon the room we where discussing clothes in and timidly asked to join us, we would have had to be evil not to let her. Katina seemed to accept her easily enough, but was also sensitive to the feelings of her family, namely the fact that some of them weren't so accepting, Hotaru was almost cold to her, but then, that was Hotaru for you, and I couldn't really tell if she discriminated against my mother for being a persecom.

Upon discovering the reason for out conversation, Chii had run off to get her own outfit that she had been working on for the festival, and upon her return, the other women had no choice but to offer her their grudging admiration for her beautiful handiwork. We where all sitting now, helping Chii and Katina start the designs for me and Hotaru's costumes. Now that Katina had another person to help her sew, she had agreed to help me and Hotaru make dresses for the upcoming event. I myself was increasingly bored with the process and Hotaru sat impassively to my left. Despite her uncaring look, I had the distinct feeling she wasn't having much fun herself. Katina and Chii had struck up an animated conversation about fabrics. I shot Hotaru a wry look, and she almost seemed to smile. She raised her eyebrows in return, and then rose. Katina looked up.

" Mama, is it ok if me and Darla go and annoy Teku?" She asked innocently. Katina mock glared at her

"Oh, alright. Bored already? You hopeless girl." Katina shook her head and turned back to Chii and their oh-so-interesting conversation. Darla walked towards the door and motioned for me to follow. For some reason, the idea of meeting Hotaru's stony-faced brother made a shiver run down my metal spine. Just a figure of speech of course. Persecoms don't really shiver. I followed Hotaru through the complex maze of her house, the only sound their muffled footsteps quiet against the plush floor. She finally stopped in front of a partially ajar door, pushing it open softly.

"Teku?" It was amazing how Hotaru's entire demeanor changed when she was around her brother. She seemed more calm, relaxed, and happy, as though the veil of solitary indifference upon her was lifted. Teku looked up from a journal he seemed to be writing in. It was a simple, leather bound book, and by the look of it, he had already filled a substantial amount of its pages. It served as an example for the rest of his room, tastefully furnished, and beautifully elegant.

I took a moment to look more closely at him. My face warmed as I realized he was wearing little else than boxers and a tank. His face betrayed little feeling, but his eyes were hard, yet strangely expressive. The thin light sifted through the blinds caught his blue orbs like the facets of a clear, tinted jewel. He had dark hair, kind of messy in a sexy way, and a few tendrils hung down in his face, in a way that made me want to reach out and brush them back. My eyes began to stray from his face, and I shook me head. What's wrong with me? I thought. I put a few fingers to my head, wondering if there was some kind of mistake in my programming. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Only my breath catching in my throat while I was in this room. The walls seemed so small. I could smell a vague sweet smell, like sweat and cologne. It was then that Hotaru decided to speak. It both relieved and disappointed me to realize that she was there. I put my head down, flustered.

"I'm going to go get some tea, why don't you try and get to know Darla?" Hotaru hinted, look pointedly at Teku before slipping silently from the room. Silence reigned for a few moments that seemed like an eternity. I finally decided to say something. I forced a fake smile onto my face, trying to brush away the strange feelings from before.

"So, umm…..where do you go to school?" I asked, trying to add a lighthearted laugh after this that sounded more like a nervous cough. Teku didn't answer. He rose, in one movement, from the bed, and I was suddenly all too aware of how alone we were, of his proximity in the room. I shivered. He stepped towards me, not breaking stride. I stood transfixed, like an animal in the headlights. Nothing in my programming prepared me to deal with this. People didn't act like this. Humans weren't supposed to _feel_ like this, oh god there is something wrong with me, said the countless stream of thoughts running through my mind. He was close enough for me to touch now, and I started when he leaned his arm against the wall next to my head, his face inches from my own. I was aware of the wall behind my back. I was scared, but it thrilled me in a strange way.

I could feel every breath he took, as it played across my face. I closed my eyes, shaky and alarmed.

"Darla?"

Hotaru was back. Teku stood up nonchalantly, as though nothing had happened. Hotaru stood in the door, a look of bemused curiosity on her face, and a silver tea tray in her hands.

"Eh….am I interrupting something?" She asked with her eyebrows raised. Teku just stared at her, and she laughed. "Don't mind him Darla. He's always quiet." I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Hotaru brought the tea tray into the middle of the room and set it on the glass table there. Teku followed her, but not before looking back at me, his gaze piercing, almost scary. His eyes lingered on my face, until I was the first to break the staring contest, looking down at the floor. I could feel every ending of myself audibly. I took a deep breath and looked up. But he was already walking away.

AU: NO I HAVE NOT STOPPED WRITING THIS!! BUT I WOULD LIKE MORE REVIEWS! I ended the chapter here a bit shorter than planned to tell you people that….so yeah.

REVIEW!


	6. Emotions

Author's notes: Yay. Another chapter. Decided to include a disclaimer in this one, so here goes: I do not own Chobits. I do, however, own any characters in this story that where not created in Chobits by its authors, CLAMP. Anyone who uses my characters will, in fact, die

Priceless Heart-chapter 6

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Teku sat in his room, staring at the corner where two of the flat white walls were perpendicular to each other, forming a shadowed right angle. If he stared at it long enough, he could see both the complacent purity of its white color as is spread away from this point, and the shadows in the corner, the darkened depths of these spreading planes. There were, of course, more places in the room where furniture cast varying shades of shadow across the white paint, but the wall always seemed to skirt around these imperfections, traveling on serenely, somewhere, completely one pure color. Though his subconscious picked out these insignificant details, his mind was on other things.

_"What was that?" _he thought _"I thought I was over this stupid crap. Dammit, you're not in high school anymore!" _he berated himself. Rising from the floor, he paced back and forth on the rug without even realizing he had moved. That girl…..she has made him react in a way that he hadn't in a long time. Sure, he was young, and he noticed the opposite sex, but he didn't make a habit out of chasing after any of the women who interested him. He hated any sign of weakness, and sign that he wasn't the one who presided over his actions. He had, over the years, built a steely self control that based itself on resisting any kind of emotion that made him react without thinking. Anger, doubt, lust. He hated not being in control.

"_I can't…… allow myself to be distracted. Hotaru needs me. She tries to hide it, but she's still so fragile. And why shouldn't she be……" _Teku shook with suppressed rage at the thought of it, and then quickly took a deep breath, banishing the almost foreign emotion from his mind. He knew he had a temper, in the past, it may have even gotten the better of him, but he couldn't be like that now. He didn't _want _to be like that. Such a thing was vile.

_I thought I was over this………this weakness._

But he couldn't help himself from remembering whispers in twin mirrors of liquid amber, seeing a reflection of smoldering gazes, speaking volumes in a different language. He could remember a pattern of black and white, a silken frame to the most radiant face he had ever glimpsed.

_What is this paradox?_

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Darla heaved a contented sigh. She sat in a large pool of hot water, a fountain of steaming liquid pouring mercilessly on her back. The houses baths where _heavenly_. Large, fountain-like pools, deep enough to lie covered in. Iridescent soap bubbles floated by, leaving her in a somewhat dreamy state. She was still a bit shaken up from her seeming malfunction earlier this afternoon, but this was just what she needed. A mirror in the other side of the room displayed an eerily comical picture of a woman's decapitated head floating smilingly on top of a bubble bath, but the image soon disappeared as the mirror fogged, the room's heat approaching that of a sauna. Darla's eyes hooded, leaving her looking slightly drunk and out of it, but her mind was alert as ever.

She lifted a foot out of the water, watching as water droplets trailed through soap that clung doggedly to her skin. Her father had made her that an opaque layer of skin underneath her normal skin, which was virtually indestructible, allowed her to come in contact with water and not be harmed. Why is there so much hate in this world for my kind? She wondered. I am no so different from these humans. I can walk, without pretending, and fool them well enough. Is it so great a crime to have a body of wires and circuits, which works no differently from a machine of flesh and bones? Her brow furrowed as she pondered this, an unaccustomed sadness permeating her demeanor. She ran her fingers lightly down her right arm, feeling gooseflesh rise. Shuddering for a moment, he stepped out of the pool, taking one of the fluffy white towels that hung from a nearby silver towel rack.

She wrapped it around herself, pausing to admire the stark whiteness of the bathroom she inhabited. Three pure white sinks with crystalline faucets were opposite the door. The fountain-bath, circular in shape, was the room's centerpiece. The room itself was big enough to have been a small ballroom. Thinking on the data provided by her father, she knew that this kind of wealth was not common. A click of the door opening behind her made her spin, broken out of her reverie. In her hurry to escape the less than comfortable tea party with Teku and Hotaru, she had forgotten to lock the door when she had rushed into the room! She almost smacked herself when she saw who was standing in the doorway, a light flush spreading across his face.

_At least he didn't walk in before I put a towel on…_

She grimaced, her face reddening by the second. Her skin almost felt numb, but she forced herself to look at him.

"Er…..hi there Teku….." She pressed two fingers against her temple, willing her face not to get any redder. Teku stood, a change of clothes draped nonchalantly over his shoulder. He spun quickly mumbling something about the bathroom already being taken, hurriedly closing the door behind him as he raced out. After counting to ten to make sure that he was gone, she ran up to the door, fumbling with the latch that locked it. She collapsed on the cold marble floor in front of it, heaving an exasperated sigh. She finally rose, going to the long cabinet on the left wall to retrieve a blow dryer. I wonder what's wrong with me….she sighed, switching the dryer to the other side of her head. She was still heady and tingly from seeing Teku. I seem to be working fine, but when I'm around that man…..I malfunction? I should speak to papa about this, she decided. He designed me. He'll know what to do.

Finishing with her hair, she pulled it into a small bun. It barely was long enough, but even though her hair looked better down, she liked it better up. Retrieving her change of clothes, she sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. Life is stressful, even for a computer, she decided, an aggravated expression on her face. Maybe _more_ so for one.

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Minoru sat, as usual, at his computer, searching illegal databases. His glasses flashed as windows closed as fast as he opened them, looking for the information he desired. His face a puzzled frown, he finally sat back. He had been searching for hours online, looking for a birth certificate, a picture, _anything_ that would give him an idea as to the origins of Hideki's mysterious "daughter", but so far, his in-depth searches had turned up nothing. There was no record of any such child as Darla being born anywhere near the dates Hideki had given him. He had checked orphanages around the globe, searching pictures, but nothing even remotely looking like a clue came up. He had even hacked into the database for the witness protection program to see if there was anyone her age, looking like her there.

Minoru was not used to looking for information, and not being able to get it. Over the years, he had been accustomed to being able to get his hands on any fact, any secret that he wanted. His ability to manipulate a computer to do his will far surpassed that of most professional programmers. The simplest thing, he thought, would just be to confront Hideki on the matter, but no, that wasn't any fun….If there was anything Minoru liked, it was a mystery that wasn't easy to solve, and Darla's was his most befuddling yet.

Closing his eyes for a moment and massaging his temples to relieve tension from sitting in front of the screen for so long, he leaned back in his chair, readying himself to find another angle to look at his mystery from.

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Teku stalked down the hallway on the third floor, not in the best of moods. No matter how hard he tried to think of something else, his mind just kept replaying an all-too-vivid image of Darla, standing in the marble bathroom, face flushed, wrapped in only a small white towel that barely had come halfway down her thighs. All thoughts of taking a bath of his won gone from his mind, he tried to think of something, _anything_ that might take his mind off of her. Stopping the turmoil of his thoughts for a moment, he heard a faint humming sound coming from the door to his left. The door was ajar, so he let himself in, to find that…..that _thing_ sewing a dark blue kimono. At the creak of the door opening, she turned and smiled.

"Teku, what a pleasant sur-."

"You stay away from her, do you hear me?!" He yelled. Chii looked confused for a moment.

"Who, Teku?" Her voice was tinged with hurt, hesitation in the wake of his angry response to her greeting.

"My sister, that's who! She doesn't need you…you filthy _things_ in her life anymore. Just….stay away from my Family!" He exploded, ignoring the part of his mind screaming at him not to lose his temper over something as worthless as a hunk of metal. He suddenly felt someone whap him in the head from behind.

"How many people are you going to walk in on and be rude to today?" Darla asked him, her quiet voice calculated and venomous, belying anger she didn't show. Her anger far surpassed the tingly, tipsy feeling Teku's nearness usually brought. He blushed slightly.

"I was-."

"If you don't mind, that's my mother you're talking to, and you'll treat her with respect." She wasn't sure were her spiteful words came from, but they sounded right, and she felt justified saying them. Without knowing it, Teku's comment on persecoms being nothing but things had insulted her as well. She had seen him come into this room, and followed, hoping to talk to him, and found him yelling at Chii. Before she knew it, she had felt a sickeningly powerful feeling. Teku sneered at her. Leaning close to her ear he whispered.

"Lock the door next time…" He walked out without a backward glance. Darla clenched and unclenched her fingers, trying to assuage the tension building in the pit of her stomach. Is this anger? She wondered. I think I kind of enjoy it. Her face contorted into a vengeful smile.

_"Don't cross me if you know what's good for you, Teku Kokubunji………"_

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AN: Tried to make this chapter a little bit longer, but since I did it all in one sitting, it's probably actually shorter than intended. Anyway, please review J


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